Green Tea – Weight Loss and health benefits
by Chris Nizzi on December 4th, 2009
The association between green tea, weight loss and health benefits are fast becoming more accepted as scientific evidence mounts that proves the links between them.
In my post called Weight loss, Where do you start?, I said I would look at weight loss and diet options because I need to for myself, and I would share the results with you.
This post details the information I’ve found which says that green tea not only helps you to lose weight but has many other significant health benefits to offer too.
Needless to say I’ve ordered some today based on the information I’ve uncovered. It’s not an instant solution to weight loss, but it’s painless, brings other health benefits and you only need to drink a cup with every meal! A good start to anyone’s weight loss program.
Green tea benefits
I discovered that green tea benefits your health because of its naturally high concentration of catechin polyphenols and in particular one called epigallocatechin gallate known as EGCG. Polyphenols account for between 30 to 40 percent of green tea’s weight and are powerful antioxidants.
Green tea also contains alkaloids, one of which is caffeine and an amino acid compound called L-theanine which has calming effects on the nervous system.
When tea leaves are picked, they immediately start to oxidise. Green and white tea leaves are washed and then either steamed and dried or just dried to prevent oxidisation and so maintain their naturally high levels antioxidants.
Other teas are allowed to oxidise which reduces their levels of catechin polyphenols
So what does all that mean?
I found the following information in many university and medical faculty studies. The findings regarding green tea benefits seem to be universal. A fact which I think puts a lot of weight behind the green tea weight loss and health benefits discussion.
The green tea health benefits
This is a list I collated of the medical conditions where population based studies indicate that green tea brings health benefits in terms of it’s preventative, controlling and healing properties.
Coronary artery disease
High cholesterol
Cancer prevention
Bladder cancer
Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Esophageal cancer
Lung cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Prostate cancer
Skin tumours
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Diabetes
Liver disease
Tooth decay
As I mentioned earlier, this information has come from many different sources but I did find a really good readable paper that summarises green tea health benefits and how it assists weight loss on the University of Maryland’s website.
Here is a link to the paper called Green tea on their Medical Centre’s site. It also provides additional information that supports the claims made regarding green tea. Well worth a read and quite an eye opener. The paper opens in a separate window.
Green tea and weight loss
I have read so many papers on green tea and weight loss this week to make sure that the research is well rounded, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Firstly, there is caffeine in green tea but significantly less that there is in coffee and it is unique. Studies show that unlike other forms of caffeine, it doesn’t appear to raise the heart rate or blood pressure ! It does however raise the metabolic rate.
The green tea weight loss connection comes from the combined action of the caffeine and catechin polyphenols.
The increase in metabolic rate consumes calories while the polyphenols seem to work with other natural bodily and intensify fat oxidation and thermogenesis which generates fat burning heat. Hence weight loss.
There was something else that I read in another medical research paper that said that green tea’s polyphenols depress leptin production. The protein hormone leptin regulates appetite and the lower the level, the less appetite.
It’s significant that many over weight people and obese people have higher levels of leptin.
Finally there is another piece of research work that was carried out in Switzerland by Dulloo and medical associates which is regarded as significant.
The Dulloo study concluded that:
‘Green tea’s polyphenols combined with caffeine produced an increase in energy expenditure (or number of calories burned) in a 24 hour period in their subjects and that neither caffeine nor green tea’s polyphenols produced the same effect when prescribed independently.’
Dulloo’s researchers concluded that when the consumption of green tea stopped, the green tea benefits stopped too! Here are links to the Dulloo papers if you would like to read them for yourself. The website ‘U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health’ with the Dulloo papers open in a new window.
Summary of green tea, its weight loss and health benefits
Green tea contains 4 calories per cup should be taken as it comes. It’s a very light and pleasant drink even with no added sugar or milk. You can tell my tea has arrived 
Very quick delivery!
The amount of evidence seems to indicate that there is a definite connection between Green tea and weight loss. There is a lot more information I could have put on the post but the findings all convey the same message. It seems to work.
I should also mention that Oolong tea, though slightly oxidised, also seems to offer weight loss and health benefits. I’ll put up another post about Oolong because that has an interesting history as I’ve discovered.
Reading between the lines, I think drinking green tea has got to be a good thing in its own right simply because the number of health benefits it brings is phenomenal, let alone weight loss. And they are all health issues that most of us are concerned about today with out relatively stressful land hectic lives.
We have to stay in good shape and green tea can certainly help us do that in a relatively simple way. We just need to drink it! Couldn’t be easier to lose weight and gain the Green tea health benefits.
There is a testimonial on the Silver Leaf Tea site that tells its own story about Green tea and weight loss. It’s where I bought my Green Tea and some of their Weight Loss Tea. Very reasonably priced and good quality. Worth checking out, I’d recommend them.
In the meantime, the proof is in the eating as they say or maybe I shouldn’t say that! I’ll keep you posted on how I get on with Green Tea and Weight loss!
Till next time. Chris Nizzi
